The only bad movie opening this week is A Chinese Tall Story,
which is based on the well-loved literary classic Journey to
the West. Nicholas Tse plays the monk Tripitaka who travels
to India with his three disciples to retrieve a sacred Buddist sutra.
Along the way, his disciples are captured by tree spirits while
Tripitaka becomes involved in a love triangle with an ugly imp (Charlene
Choi) and a beautiful princess (Fan Bing-bing).

Director Jeff Lau is usually comfortable with the literary classic
genre. His earlier adaptations, like the two-part epic A Chinese
Odyssey (1994) with Stephen Chow and Chinese Odyssey 2002
(2002) with Tony Leung and Faye Wong, were absolutely delightful
and entertaining. A Chinese Tall Story, however, proves
to be a disappointment. Despite a sizeable budget and the use of
CGI technology, the story is weak and uneven. And the acting is,
at best, mediocre. Now where's Stephen when you need him?